United Arab Emirates
males: 30,706 (2005 est.)
United States males: 2,143,873 females: 2,036,201 (2005 est.)
Uzbekistan
males: 324,722 (2005 est.)
Venezuela
males: 252,396 (2005 est.)
Vietnam
males: 915,572 (2005 est.)
Yemen
males: 236,517 (2005 est.)
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@2028 Background
Afghanistan
Afghanistan's recent history is a story of war and civil
unrest. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979, but was forced to withdraw
10 years later by anti-Communist mujahidin forces. The Communist
regime in Kabul collapsed in 1992. Fighting that subsequently
erupted among the various mujahidin factions eventually helped to
spawn the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that
fought to end the warlordism and civil war that gripped the country.
The Taliban seized Kabul in 1996 and were able to capture most of
the country outside of Northern Alliance strongholds primarily in
the northeast. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, a
US, Allied, and Northern Alliance military action toppled the
Taliban for sheltering Osama BIN LADIN. In late 2001, a conference
in Bonn, Germany, established a process for political reconstruction
that ultimately resulted in the adoption of a new constitution and
presidential election in 2004. On 9 October 2004, Hamid KARZAI
became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan.
The new Afghan government's next task is to hold National Assembly
elections, tentatively scheduled for April 2005.